Speaker 1: So recently we were in Austin, Texas, and we were
Speaker 1: gifted one of the most thoughtful gifts anybody has ever
Speaker 1: given us. And we have been the recipients of a
Speaker 1: lot of thoughtful gifts because we have incredibly thoughtful, detail
Speaker 1: oriented fans who just know us so well and care
Speaker 1: so much about Boy Meets World and have given us
Speaker 1: so many thoughtful gifts, but we were truly blown away
Speaker 1: by this particular gift. It was given to us by
Speaker 1: a kind gentleman named Ray Bats. And I'm going to
Speaker 1: let the two of you describe what this gift was
Speaker 1: so good, I.
Speaker 2: Mean, it was so and could you want to start right?
Speaker 2: You taught me how to play, so why don't you start?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 4: As we've mentioned on the show before, I am a
Speaker 4: huge Magic the Gathering fan, and since the age of
Speaker 4: twelve thirteen when my brother bought a pack of Unlimited,
Speaker 4: which is the one of the early editions pack of Unlimited,
Speaker 4: and we learned how to play. So by the time
Speaker 4: by first season A Boy, I was already playing Yeah,
Speaker 4: And then I got Will into it and we would
Speaker 4: play backstage, and then I kind of fell out of it,
Speaker 4: but then I got back into it. In my thirties
Speaker 4: and have been playing more recently and having you know
Speaker 4: so well. We played Let's see, we played after Shiloh's
Speaker 4: heart surgery, remember when he was recovering. You came over
Speaker 4: and we played Magic all day. So that was probably
Speaker 4: the last time. It was like five years ago. Anyway,
Speaker 4: we've been talking about playing magic on this show, and Ray,
Speaker 4: who is a game designer in his own right, decided
Speaker 4: to make us custom Magic the Gathering Decks, where each
Speaker 4: card is an original card based on either an in
Speaker 4: joke from boy Me's world or a reference to something
Speaker 4: that we've talked about on this podcast. And it is
Speaker 4: a fully playable deck of magic. Three fully playable we
Speaker 4: each got one. We each got one and their commander decks.
Speaker 4: So the commanders of the decks are based on us.
Speaker 4: So mine is Writer, Eternal night Holder, and uh based
Speaker 4: on the mechanics of the game. You add shirt tokens
Speaker 4: to my commander, so I am a legendary plains Walker
Speaker 4: human director who gets shirt tokens so I can have
Speaker 4: too much shirts as my magic character. There's an artifact
Speaker 4: card that is the Jacket, which is a reference to
Speaker 4: the leather jacket that I've lost. There's a creature called
Speaker 4: the Mailbox Bomber based on the like. There are so
Speaker 4: many references. It's an endless and and he had artwork
Speaker 4: created for every card, for every card, which he did
Speaker 4: through Ai. There's a Shady Melon card, Shady Eskimo of
Speaker 4: halted Progress, which is a creature who gets in your way,
Speaker 4: I mean, and he figured out there's an Angela's purse.
Speaker 4: In fact, he figured out all these things like.
Speaker 2: I have I have Duckies, the Horses of the Ocean,
Speaker 2: which is a flying creature. There is uh, there's one
Speaker 2: that's just called phone acting, which is an instant I mean,
Speaker 2: there's all these. The Phenie call the Collar of Feenie
Speaker 2: is another instant card you can use. My commander deck
Speaker 2: is it's will the Collar of Merchan. You get these
Speaker 2: merch tokens as you're going there, So every card is
Speaker 2: so clever. And I am not kidding when I say
Speaker 2: we got them. He handed them to us. We could
Speaker 2: have sat there right then and gone through every card,
Speaker 2: but obviously we're doing our meet and greets, so we
Speaker 2: didn't have time, so we had to put them aside.
Speaker 2: I came home and I spent a joyous hour going
Speaker 2: card by card and looking at every single one of
Speaker 2: these things. They are incredible.
Speaker 4: And he says you can play it with other magic
Speaker 4: decks too, So it's not even like my foot maybe
Speaker 4: it was only playable within the three of us, but
Speaker 4: it's actually integrates with the regular rules of magic. Oh
Speaker 4: so yeah, man, so impressive, so thoughtful and just so
Speaker 4: fun and funny and touching, like really genuinely touching, like
Speaker 4: the amount of thought and energy. And like, I shared
Speaker 4: this with my my, my fellow magic geeks, so I
Speaker 4: play with I like immediately like texted those look at that,
Speaker 4: and they're like that is insane, Like it's mind blowing.
Speaker 5: It is.
Speaker 2: It's it's so cool. Wait, I think we have one.
Speaker 2: Do we have one up?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 7: You have a photo?
Speaker 2: Wow at these, I mean, just look at these.
Speaker 1: So we will post these photos on Instagram so you
Speaker 1: guys can appreciate them as well.
Speaker 2: The mail box bomber.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'd like to give a special shout out
Speaker 1: to I believe his wife who was with him, who
Speaker 1: also was putting in She said I was the official sleever,
Speaker 1: so she was the person who was putting them in
Speaker 1: individual sleeves, and she said, I was a part of
Speaker 1: this as well, and she most certainly was so thank
Speaker 1: you so much.
Speaker 4: Ray.
Speaker 3: So cool.
Speaker 2: And he also he said to us, he kind of
Speaker 2: he like handed us the cards and then he kind
Speaker 2: of ducked his head a little bit and he said,
Speaker 2: I hope you don't mind, but I inserted myself too.
Speaker 2: And so there's a Ray card. There's actually one of
Speaker 2: the cards is for Ray and it was just it
Speaker 2: was the coolest thing ever. Yeah, yes, very cool.
Speaker 7: Great.
Speaker 1: So you guys continue to amaze us and we just
Speaker 1: absolutely love seeing you at our live shows, which, by
Speaker 1: the way, we are still rescheduling those live shows that
Speaker 1: we had to cancel for December. It has been a
Speaker 1: little bit difficult to find a time when those venues
Speaker 1: have had availability, so I just want you to know
Speaker 1: they are being rescheduled. We look forward to seeing you
Speaker 1: all and hopefully being able to announce those dates very soon.
Speaker 2: Hello, Connecticut, Pod Meets World Live is coming to you
Speaker 2: my hometown.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 2: My two co hosts have had their fun with their
Speaker 2: little jokes and insults, but now it's time for every
Speaker 2: single one of you to put down your butter churns
Speaker 2: and drive your carriages. I kid, my fellow nutmakers down
Speaker 2: to the Bushnell Theater in Hartford on March seventeenth, right
Speaker 2: near where I was born. It is going to be
Speaker 2: a very special night for a very awesome state. Now
Speaker 2: more behind the scenes stories, interactive games, questions and answers.
Speaker 2: Those are certainly on the agenda. But I also have
Speaker 2: to imagine that our costume contest there where you can
Speaker 2: dresses anything from Boy or Pod meets World cough cough,
Speaker 2: grappling hook, is going to go off. The winner gets
Speaker 2: a legit nineties Boy meets World script signed by all
Speaker 2: of us from my personal collection, because as you know,
Speaker 2: I don't throw anything away. And tickets are available now, Hartford, Connecticut,
Speaker 2: the Bushnel Theater on March seventeenth. I can't believe I
Speaker 2: finally get to say that. Go to Podmeets worldshow dot
Speaker 2: com right now to join us. Oh, I can't wait
Speaker 2: to see you there.
Speaker 7: Welcome to Pod Meets World.
Speaker 2: I'm Danielle Fischel, I'm right or Strong, and I'm Will
Speaker 2: the caller.
Speaker 1: Of I think we can all agree that one of
Speaker 1: the more fever dream episodes of Boy Meets World was
Speaker 1: the New Year's themed set piece focused Train of Fools,
Speaker 1: and since we hadn't yet traveled through time to the
Speaker 1: fifties when we first rewatched Eric force a kiss on
Speaker 1: Charisma Carpenter, we didn't think it could get more bananas.
Speaker 1: Then mister b and definitely not Potzi came along and
Speaker 1: took that title. But Train of Fools had its day
Speaker 1: in the sun, and one of the very high points
Speaker 1: of this chaotic episode was the work of actor Wesley Jonathan,
Speaker 1: who played TJ, a fellow teen stuck with us on
Speaker 1: New Year's Eve whose main focus was getting the party started.
Speaker 1: And during our season two wrap up with Bruh Meets World,
Speaker 1: when we asked who they wanted to see stop by
Speaker 1: for season three, they were quick to mention Wesley, a
Speaker 1: rare black actor on set who was also known for
Speaker 1: starring in the NBC sitcom City Guys Then What I
Speaker 1: Like About You opposite Genie Garth and Amanda Bynes for
Speaker 1: eighty six episodes. He'd been seen on Sister Sister, Moesha,
Speaker 1: Smart Guy, A Different World, Boston Public, and was one
Speaker 1: of the stars of the glorious two thousand and five
Speaker 1: skating movie Roll Bounce. He has done it all, including
Speaker 1: work with one of us a little more recently, and
Speaker 1: now we are excited to start the party on Pod
Speaker 1: meets World with this week's exciting guest.
Speaker 7: Let's welcome Wesley Jonathan Fast.
Speaker 3: Hello.
Speaker 4: Hi, you doing.
Speaker 6: I'm doing, I'm doing, I'm doing all right?
Speaker 2: Good? And another person coming on who looks exactly the
Speaker 2: same eaged Oh well, thank you.
Speaker 6: You guys look good too.
Speaker 7: Thank you. We made you watch your episode last night,
Speaker 7: and we will.
Speaker 1: Get into our memories of working together later. But what
Speaker 1: did you think about the episode now? Watching it nearly
Speaker 1: thirty years later?
Speaker 6: I watched Let's see.
Speaker 3: I have a nine year old little girl and she's
Speaker 3: just now I mean, she's always known me to be
Speaker 3: an actor, but like it's just now starting to resonate
Speaker 3: with her.
Speaker 6: So she's watching all the old shouls on stream streaming.
Speaker 3: She looked at it and the first thing she thought
Speaker 3: was the same thing I thought, is like, what's with
Speaker 3: the hair? So yeah, man, I look back and was like,
Speaker 3: oh my god was I thinking? But when I think
Speaker 3: about it, I was like, it was that was people
Speaker 3: were doing that, That's what they were doing. But it's
Speaker 3: just like my hair was just crazy.
Speaker 4: It was like, oh my god, I was doing that
Speaker 4: that's how bad it is.
Speaker 2: It's also a boy meets World, which is very hair centric. Yes,
Speaker 2: oh man, all about the hair.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 1: And we're not even making any measure mention of the
Speaker 1: fact that mister Feene is on an ad in the subway.
Speaker 7: Like there's there's just some weird many moments they're just
Speaker 7: like not really, they don't really make a whole lot
Speaker 7: of sense.
Speaker 1: I mean, Eric is trying to kiss a supermodel who
Speaker 1: wants to date high.
Speaker 2: Schooler, which is which that's like the fourth weirdest thing.
Speaker 2: So that's that's how you know the episode's bizarre when
Speaker 2: that's like the fourth weirdest thing.
Speaker 4: You're on the subway by yourself, Yeah, like just ready
Speaker 4: to party, Like what.
Speaker 5: Are what's happening?
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's take it back. We like to start
Speaker 1: with some origin story stuff. You were just nine years
Speaker 1: old when you started acting, right.
Speaker 6: Yes, I was about nine yep.
Speaker 1: Okay, we've noticed that, like nine or ten seems to
Speaker 1: be a very common age to like jump into the
Speaker 1: entertainment industry.
Speaker 7: Did your parents get you into it?
Speaker 3: Yes, well my mom because I was raised you know,
Speaker 3: a single family home.
Speaker 6: My mom and a cousin of mine.
Speaker 3: She was an actress, and they I would always I
Speaker 3: was always dancing. I wanted to be a singer and
Speaker 3: a dancer. Originally, I've been dancing since I was like
Speaker 3: four or five years old. So I wanted to be
Speaker 3: I wanted to be bigger than Michael Jackson in my
Speaker 3: little mind, and so I was always dancing at like
Speaker 3: you know, reunions and you know, family gatherings and weddings
Speaker 3: and anywhere I would see a reflection of myself. Grocery store,
Speaker 3: I would I would be moon walking or dancing and
Speaker 3: doing something so amazing. It came like they had a
Speaker 3: conversation and they were you know, like and they sat
Speaker 3: me down, and I'll never forget it because this is
Speaker 3: like right when Nintendo had just like roughly I guess
Speaker 3: came out. It was like the Gold Zelda, and it
Speaker 3: was just like, you know, we didn't have any money,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. So they sat me down, like, hey,
Speaker 3: would you want to do like commercials and TV and
Speaker 3: stuff like that. You know, you can buy Nintendo games,
Speaker 3: and they're trying to lure me into this thing. I
Speaker 3: was like, you know, and I didn't care. I was like,
Speaker 3: I don't you know of course I want those things,
Speaker 3: but like I just liked to perform. So like the
Speaker 3: first thing, I said, could I sing and dance? And
Speaker 3: they're like, well, yeah, it's all you know, it's all
Speaker 3: the same, you know, same thing. I'm like, okay, sure,
Speaker 3: So what do I have to do? And then they
Speaker 3: got some head shots, taking some Ten's old classic black
Speaker 3: and white by ten shots and it's I don't know
Speaker 3: what they did. They ended up getting an interview with
Speaker 3: an agency, HERB Tannon, which is a really popular agency.
Speaker 7: I remember that agent, yeah right.
Speaker 3: And I got an interview with Herb Tennant and I
Speaker 3: went in there and uh, you know, it was a
Speaker 3: white lady, Joyce Stevenson, who was my agent for many
Speaker 3: many years, even up until recently. She was like managing
Speaker 3: my commercial area. But she passed away about a couple
Speaker 3: of years ago. But she took me in a room
Speaker 3: with another white guy, whatever the case may be, and
Speaker 3: they asked me questions what did I like to do?
Speaker 3: And I sit dance and they were like, oh, you
Speaker 3: don't have to dance, you dance for us, and I
Speaker 3: said sure, and they were like you want some music
Speaker 3: and I was like, oh no, I got the music
Speaker 3: in here.
Speaker 6: They're like yeah, sure.
Speaker 3: It was like yeah, They're like, well why, I was like, well,
Speaker 3: because yeah, your music is different from mine.
Speaker 4: Keep playing on Peter and.
Speaker 5: Mary Metallica and you know, different different.
Speaker 6: Yeah yeah, I like guns and Roses at the time.
Speaker 3: But I was like I can't dance that, So so
Speaker 3: I ended up just you know, doing a little something,
Speaker 3: and uh, they ended up signing me.
Speaker 6: I mean right on, you know, right on the spot
Speaker 6: pretty much.
Speaker 3: And and and uh after that, we're on a few auditions.
Speaker 3: And the one thing about me is I had no
Speaker 3: acting experience. The only thing I did have was that
Speaker 3: I wasn't. I was one of those kids that could
Speaker 3: take direction. I wasn't most of us who are kid
Speaker 3: acting with you guys know, we don't.
Speaker 6: We're not normal.
Speaker 4: That's fair enough.
Speaker 6: I think that's about.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 6: So it's like I was one of those kids, like
Speaker 6: a robot.
Speaker 3: You tell me to go there, say that, stand over
Speaker 3: here and say that and wait for this que And
Speaker 3: that was it. And my first job was twenty one
Speaker 3: Jump Street, the TV show with Johnny Depp.
Speaker 2: Like you're on twenty one Jump Street?
Speaker 4: Which episode job I was?
Speaker 3: I was on an episode of Creative U dude jabbar actually,
Speaker 3: and it was a pretty nice role. I opened up
Speaker 3: the show with another kid and then we closed the show.
Speaker 3: It's about basketball and drugs and crack and yeah, man,
Speaker 3: it was a great show.
Speaker 2: That was a great show. Twenty one Jump Street.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it was a great show.
Speaker 3: And I didn't really know the severity, Like we flew
Speaker 3: to Vancouver shot for two weeks and when I flew
Speaker 3: back and they finally, you know, let us know when
Speaker 3: it was gonna air. And I told all the kids
Speaker 3: at school, all my friends and teachers that, yo, remember
Speaker 3: I was absent and I wanted to go shoot the show,
Speaker 3: and you know, and I had never as a kid
Speaker 3: watched the show. I just knew the theme song, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean, because again I was musically like, you know, inclined.
Speaker 3: So the night of the show airing, I watched it
Speaker 3: and I cringed. I was just like, as a kid,
Speaker 3: oh my god, I sound like that. I looked like
Speaker 3: that kidding me? Was it was awful. So again, being
Speaker 3: kid act was a little you know, weird. I'm not
Speaker 3: you know, the typical kid be like yeah, you know,
Speaker 3: but it wasn't that case. I was very like, I
Speaker 3: don't like that, if I do it again, I got
Speaker 3: to do it better. And when I went to school,
Speaker 3: the kids, you know, everybody went crazy.
Speaker 6: Man, everybody was bugging out that whole day.
Speaker 3: That was what made me go, ah, now I must
Speaker 3: feel that again.
Speaker 6: I got yeah, right.
Speaker 2: That's that drug. That's drug the first time.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So afterwards I was like, you know, after school, I was,
Speaker 3: I mean the whole day I didn't do anything. I
Speaker 3: was just looking at the clock waiting for like the
Speaker 3: belder Ring and mom. That picked me up to be like, yo,
Speaker 3: what's next, what's the next audition? I gotta get it,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean.
Speaker 6: So that was it.
Speaker 3: That was the beginning of how And then after that
Speaker 3: I started watching TV shows really uh uh in more depth,
Speaker 3: like you know, Three's Company and Growing Pains and and
Speaker 3: just you know that whole the whole genre. Who's the Boss,
Speaker 3: And then we can go on and on and you know,
Speaker 3: different strokes. Those are the things that you know, you
Speaker 3: grew up watching. And I would remember and listen to
Speaker 3: the rhythm and the comedy beats, the last the holes,
Speaker 3: even at that age, and it was like all right,
Speaker 3: you know. So then when I got my shot to
Speaker 3: do different shows. It was like I started putting my
Speaker 3: little flag and guest star on all, you know, all
Speaker 3: the different shows and Boy Meets World. What. I'm sure Danielle,
Speaker 3: you're going to ask about that and how it got
Speaker 3: that because there was a little story behind now I do.
Speaker 7: I want to get into that.
Speaker 1: But before we get into that, I want to talk
Speaker 1: about City Guys because our listeners were very excited when
Speaker 1: they knew we would be talking to you. How old
Speaker 1: were you when you were the star of City Guys.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I got City Guys.
Speaker 3: I think right when I was seventeen getting ready to
Speaker 3: be eighteen. I was like, it was that transition. I
Speaker 3: think that from the from the Yeah, I was about
Speaker 3: seventeen eighteen.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, and that.
Speaker 3: Was It's funny because City Guys, seeing as it goes
Speaker 3: to show you, I had already been in the business,
Speaker 3: you know, almost ten years, you know what I mean
Speaker 3: pretty much you know longer ten years and even then
Speaker 3: just having been on quite a few guest starring roles
Speaker 3: and looking at.
Speaker 6: My peers, I didn't I didn't.
Speaker 3: I don't know. City Guys is weird because that was
Speaker 3: a very very I didn't want to be I didn't mind.
Speaker 6: Doing one season. In my mind, I was like, cool.
Speaker 6: You know. The thing about it was that it was
Speaker 6: Saturday morning.
Speaker 3: I wanted to be on Prime Time, right, I want to.
Speaker 6: I wanted to be where y'all was at, you know, right.
Speaker 1: I mean I mean this very respectfully. It was a
Speaker 1: little like right or strong on our show? Who was
Speaker 1: By the time then he got Boy Meets World was
Speaker 1: already this was like his third or fourth major show.
Speaker 1: He was a little like, yeah, this is what I
Speaker 1: really want to be doing. This is like he felt
Speaker 1: a little like he was slumming it a bit. He
Speaker 1: was like, this is keeping me from all this real
Speaker 1: stuff I'm supposed to.
Speaker 4: Yes, totally well, And did you feel like you were
Speaker 4: it was taken away from music too. Were you still
Speaker 4: like thinking you were going to be into music or no?
Speaker 6: No, not really.
Speaker 3: Even during that time, I was playing around with it,
Speaker 3: but I wasn't really serious because I think once I
Speaker 3: got once the acting bug hit, it kind of over
Speaker 3: over road. Yeah, it's a go over so for me though,
Speaker 3: the same feeling rider was that I felt like city
Speaker 3: guys at first.
Speaker 6: For many years, actually I felt city guys.
Speaker 3: That was like, okay, here we are shooting at Sunset
Speaker 3: and Gower, whereas stage four think was married with Children's
Speaker 3: Old stage and we were shooting in between Moesha, which
Speaker 3: I guest starred on, and The Parkers and here are
Speaker 3: my peers on you know, Prime Time, you know night
Speaker 3: three times as.
Speaker 6: Much money, and it's like and.
Speaker 3: I'm here and I'm like, I'm stuck in this contract
Speaker 3: and I'm like, yo, I'm good enough to be over
Speaker 3: there or or you know, doing something.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So it was like that immature, very immature kind of
Speaker 3: mentality where it was like, hey, listen, your average eighteen
Speaker 3: year old is not making the money that you make.
Speaker 6: That's first off. But I couldn't see that at the time.
Speaker 6: I mean they told me then when I would I
Speaker 6: would cry when I was like.
Speaker 3: I couldn't do a film because we're shooting, or I
Speaker 3: couldn't do this. You know that that that tuzzle war, right,
Speaker 3: So over the years they would tell me, listen, once
Speaker 3: is all over, you're gonna you're gonna look back and
Speaker 3: you're gonna appreciate it, YadA, YadA, YadA, you gonna just
Speaker 3: other memories and blah blah blah. Yeah, yeah, whatever, and
Speaker 3: with to make a long story short, they were absolutely right,
Speaker 3: City guys. I owe everything for me to even be
Speaker 3: to move on to what I like about you with
Speaker 3: the Man of the Bonds.
Speaker 6: Right after that.
Speaker 3: That show gave me a foundation of just everything from
Speaker 3: from really really appreciating what you have being taught. I'm
Speaker 3: being paid to go to school pretty much. That that
Speaker 3: was training, you know, uh and being paid for it.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 3: Yes, it was Saturday morning, but I made the best
Speaker 3: of it. I said, Okay, look, Saturday morning. It was
Speaker 3: the first show on Saturday Morning that a black you know,
Speaker 3: black kid or black guy, we was starring it. No
Speaker 3: other show ever seen that. They've never seen a female,
Speaker 3: a black African American female as a principal, you know.
Speaker 3: That was our miss, mister Belding. They had never seen that.
Speaker 3: They never seen a rap song in the beginning, you
Speaker 3: know those things that. So I said, Okay, I sat
Speaker 3: back and after I knew that we were in for
Speaker 3: the law, what can I do to make this show
Speaker 3: even more different? So I started growing out my hair,
Speaker 3: wearing you know, braids and the French braids and corn
Speaker 3: rolls in my hair. Then I encouraged, uh, the other
Speaker 3: Stephen Daniel, the other guy who played l train on
Speaker 3: the shows and grow your hair out.
Speaker 6: Man, let's let's let's let's let's streak this up.
Speaker 3: If they really won't, you know, I'm standing as much
Speaker 3: as we can, you know what I mean. And they
Speaker 3: gave us a lot of.
Speaker 6: Leadway on that show.
Speaker 3: So I mean, I City Guys was one and then
Speaker 3: again people to this very day still remember that show absolutely. Well.
Speaker 2: That's the thing about Saturday Morning is so interesting. It's
Speaker 2: a weird combination because it's less people watching but more kids.
Speaker 2: So in a way, you're you're you can almost be
Speaker 2: more important in people's lives on a Saturday morning show
Speaker 2: because kids sit there and they're just stuck to the TV.
Speaker 2: And so you know that you get kind of adults
Speaker 2: watching the primetime shows and adults and kids, but man,
Speaker 2: you've got that audience of kids just sitting there staring.
Speaker 2: I mean, you can make a lot of difference on
Speaker 2: a Saturday morning show.
Speaker 7: And was created by Peter Engel, who's same creator of
Speaker 7: Saved by the Bell.
Speaker 3: The Bell correct, correct, Yeah, So I mean it already
Speaker 3: had a following just because of that alone, had the
Speaker 3: whole lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And really amazing of you to recognize even back
Speaker 1: then as a teen where you're you know, we all
Speaker 1: have that same experience where we look back at ourselves
Speaker 1: as teens and we think, man, if I could tell
Speaker 1: myself one thing, it would be to appreciate it more. Yes,
Speaker 1: but really truly incredible and admirable that you realized even
Speaker 1: back then that, even though it wasn't exactly where you
Speaker 1: wanted to be, the potential for you to break glass ceilings.
Speaker 7: Everywhere all around you was there and you you did it,
Speaker 7: and you you.
Speaker 1: Like, it's just that's really great. I love that you
Speaker 1: were even aware of that back then. Our very own
Speaker 1: Trina McGee appeared on three episodes of City Guys.
Speaker 7: Do you remember working with her?
Speaker 6: Yes? I do, Yes, I do. In fact, I still
Speaker 6: I think.
Speaker 3: I think me and her follow each other on one Instagram.
Speaker 3: I think it is yes Trina. It was weird because
Speaker 3: when Trina, I think she done that three episodes as
Speaker 3: my girlfriend. And thinking about when Trina got on air
Speaker 3: was that I knew her because of the show. But
Speaker 3: it was ironic that the episode that I did, she
Speaker 3: wasn't or wasn't the.
Speaker 2: Season she wasn't there.
Speaker 7: Yeah, she wasn't there.
Speaker 1: She joined us in season five and your episode was season.
Speaker 6: Three three, right, okay, so yeah, that's what it was.
Speaker 3: And I think we talked about it briefly with her
Speaker 3: and she I don't think she had any idea, so
Speaker 3: I told her. I was like, you know, I was,
Speaker 3: I was on Boy Meets World years ago. I just
Speaker 3: don't know what what you know, what what year lost?
Speaker 6: What year it was? But Treda was sweet. She was cool, man.
Speaker 6: And I would tell her in her face she's crazy
Speaker 6: as a role is it? Uh?
Speaker 3: I love her and death crazy. Yeah, man, we had
Speaker 3: we had it was it was cool man, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. I thought that I thought it was
Speaker 3: great to how she represented, you know, as a young
Speaker 3: black woman on Boy Meet's World.
Speaker 6: I thought that was really cool and that was a
Speaker 6: nice spot for her. So yeah, she did. Yeah that's
Speaker 6: how small those worlds inter Twine. Man.
Speaker 1: Now, you guys had some really great guest stars. I'm
Speaker 1: going to name a few other guest stars that you
Speaker 1: had and you can tell me if you remember them.
Speaker 1: And truthfully, writer and I barely remember anybody, so don't
Speaker 1: feel bad. But Adam Brody was a guest star. He
Speaker 1: was customer number two.
Speaker 4: Yes, big part, big part, customer number two.
Speaker 7: Of course he remembers that one.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Bravo Housewife. Kyle Richards played Katie Wow. Yeah, Jerry Turtle
Speaker 1: Ferrara was delivery boy Turtle yep, yep. Sarah Shaw he
Speaker 1: played cheerleader, and Vanessa Lasha was hot girl yes ye.
Speaker 2: Did anybody on this show actually have names? Or was
Speaker 2: everybody just delivery guy? And you know.
Speaker 3: What's crazy about this? As a cast, we joke about
Speaker 3: this when we get together. We're like, do you understand
Speaker 3: we ninety eight degrees? There were oh, there's a lot
Speaker 3: of people. You still didn't name everybody but Sherman Hemsley,
Speaker 3: who played mister Yes, George Jefferson Smon. Sir Hemsley did
Speaker 3: an episode ninety eight degrees. As we know, they did
Speaker 3: an episode so ironically, you know, Vanessa.
Speaker 7: You could have set them up, could have you could.
Speaker 3: But but they didn't. Let me tell you, guys, we
Speaker 3: laugh because we're like, do everybody, I mean everybody ran
Speaker 3: through our socity guys and they all became big bona
Speaker 3: fide stars blowing up and then we look at each
Speaker 3: other like what happened with us?
Speaker 4: If you guys were holding down the fort and else
Speaker 4: was moving through.
Speaker 3: We're the launching path for everybody else's career and they
Speaker 3: take off and we don't.
Speaker 6: I mean, Adam Rody, come on, it's crazy.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: I have to ask because I am a television fanatic.
Speaker 2: It is, it's my my first love.
Speaker 4: What was it like.
Speaker 2: Working with Sherman Hemsley, I mean television royalty?
Speaker 6: Yo, when he trust me, I can't believe it.
Speaker 3: I think about it now again, that's me being spoiled
Speaker 3: and just I first of all, get grew up watching
Speaker 3: jeff Jefferson's.
Speaker 6: When we got.
Speaker 3: Him, I was like, yo, exactly, like, oh, this legendary
Speaker 3: is iconic, you know, Sherman Hemsley, George Jefferson, like you know,
Speaker 3: and he was such.
Speaker 6: A cool dude.
Speaker 3: Man he was, he was. It was probably one of
Speaker 3: the he couldn't get it. Matter of fact, here's a
Speaker 3: quick story. There was a scene we did and he
Speaker 3: couldn't get his line correctly. And you know, he's getting
Speaker 3: older at the time, you know what I mean. He
Speaker 3: couldn't get his lines right and he was so frustrated
Speaker 3: with himself. We were doing a live studio audience at
Speaker 3: that time. That's just back when we all had you know,
Speaker 3: the audience, and uh, he couldn't get his line, man,
Speaker 3: and he said he must have dropped the F bomb
Speaker 3: or something fun. And at the time you had to
Speaker 3: be there. But to see George Jefferson cursed out of frustration,
Speaker 3: it was.
Speaker 6: So dang funny.
Speaker 3: I was in tears to the points to where they
Speaker 3: had to stop and pull met. I was crying, maker,
Speaker 3: come off my face, and I said, dude, George Jefferson
Speaker 3: and that person and the whole audience to kids was like, oh,
Speaker 3: so he was great. It's about as humble as they
Speaker 3: can be. Cool as a fan, I'm glad, but I
Speaker 3: didn't Here's.
Speaker 6: The things I did. I can't find I didn't get
Speaker 6: a picture with him.
Speaker 7: Oh, I didn't get it.
Speaker 3: I didn't get a picture with them. I can't believe
Speaker 3: I'm looking through all my old stuff. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 3: screen time, but I didn't get an actual still picture
Speaker 3: into the barrier. Dale's what was that thinking?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's funny because you can't, especially as a kid,
Speaker 1: you can't imagine a future where photographic evidence is going
Speaker 1: to mean.
Speaker 7: A lot to you.
Speaker 1: You're like, I've worked with I'm working with this person,
Speaker 1: I worked with them all week. I have the memories.
Speaker 1: It was not you know, I'm living in the moment.
Speaker 1: But then thirty years later, when you're still sitting here
Speaker 1: and you're talking about these people that are icons and
Speaker 1: that you got to share time with them, It's so
Speaker 1: crazy how important that like tangible proof of your previous
Speaker 1: life becomes to you.
Speaker 6: You know. Yeah, now, you're right, You're absolutely right.
Speaker 1: I promise we're going to get to boy Meets World.
Speaker 1: But you have so many things I'm to talk to
Speaker 1: you about. So I want to talk to you about
Speaker 1: Roll Bounce, where are you Disco Champions, Sweetness Active, Roller
Speaker 1: Skated with bow Wow, Megan Good, Nick Cannon, Mike Epps
Speaker 1: and Sean McBride.
Speaker 6: And Charlie Murphy and flew of others.
Speaker 1: Yes, Okay, what memories do you have from that set?
Speaker 1: And how many bruises did you end up with?
Speaker 3: Oh? Yeah, you know, it's a whole nother podcast for
Speaker 3: us to share.
Speaker 6: The how I got that role.
Speaker 7: Talk about it.
Speaker 3: Okay, So I'm going to try to some something, you know,
Speaker 3: sum it up. You guys know when they call us
Speaker 3: Sometimes you have a relationship with a cast and director
Speaker 3: and they'll call you up and to do a table
Speaker 3: read for a new project that hasn't you.
Speaker 6: Know, they haven't bought yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: So they called me in uh and wanted me to
Speaker 3: come in and just help with this table read.
Speaker 6: They're selling this movie.
Speaker 3: Roll Bounce, and then you know, producers wanted to see
Speaker 3: if they liked it, and Yata ytta just you know,
Speaker 3: the very very beginning skeletons of it. And it was
Speaker 3: funny because me and Dion Bascall, who was on City Guys,
Speaker 3: we were a part of this table read. Make a
Speaker 3: long story short, They love the film a Fox Searchlight
Speaker 3: ends up putting money out behind it to get it up.
Speaker 6: On its feet. All right.
Speaker 3: So I'm like, okay, cool, you know, and I've read
Speaker 3: the character Sweetness at that time. And then come to
Speaker 3: find out they you know, ended up wanting me to
Speaker 3: audition for it. Now in my mind, I'm going, well,
Speaker 3: I just did my audition. But ego, right, ego. So
Speaker 3: it's like, all right, fine, I love the role. I
Speaker 3: loved the film. It was a great you know, great script.
Speaker 3: I'll go in and audition.
Speaker 6: For it, you know. My mind like it's fair, but fine,
Speaker 6: So I go in audition.
Speaker 3: You know the process call back, come back, and then
Speaker 3: you don't hear nothing quiet not the time.
Speaker 6: So you guys know this is intertwine.
Speaker 3: At the time I was shooting What I Like About You,
Speaker 3: we were probably are this.
Speaker 6: Was like the fourth seat. Yeah, like third or fourth season.
Speaker 3: So let me pause frame on that because that's a
Speaker 3: part of the story of What I Like about You.
Speaker 3: So them to find out I don't hear anything for
Speaker 3: a while, and come to find out they're shooting roll
Speaker 3: Bounds in Chicago, and I'm like, well, the only the
Speaker 3: only role hadn't cast it with Sweetness was my character.
Speaker 3: And I was like when I found out, I was like,
Speaker 3: what's what's up with that? And they're like, well, they're
Speaker 3: trying to figure out if they want it's.
Speaker 6: A true story.
Speaker 3: They want Usher to play Sweetness or omar On from
Speaker 3: B two K to play these two people were up
Speaker 3: all right now that the studio liked me, but they
Speaker 3: would have rather had obviously Usher.
Speaker 6: Or o Mario, because why the studios are beating counters.
Speaker 3: They it's all about the draw, right, But me and
Speaker 3: as actor, as an artist, I'm saying it's ridiculous. I'm
Speaker 3: so tired of fighting this constant battle you know political
Speaker 3: issues where it's like, look you got bow wow, who's
Speaker 3: are already the start of this film? You put us
Speaker 3: or Marian? You got a music video, it's not a
Speaker 3: film anymore. You got music artist, You're an actor, thank you.
Speaker 3: So it's the struggle we all have, right. So then
Speaker 3: it's like malholmily caused me the director and says, hey, man,
Speaker 3: I'm fighting for you for this what what's you know?
Speaker 6: What's going on You're life?
Speaker 3: I mean there were he's loft into a show, YadA
Speaker 3: YadA YadA. That was an issue so Warner Brothers. I
Speaker 3: had to you know, it was crazy. I fought really hard.
Speaker 3: So I told him I live, man, So why do
Speaker 3: you want to do this role? Because the Road didn't
Speaker 3: have my agency managers, nobody wanted me to. They're like,
Speaker 3: this role doesn't even speak. He didn't even do anything.
Speaker 3: They didn't see what I saw. I said, he doesn't
Speaker 3: have to speak. You don't understand. I was like, it's
Speaker 3: the character. Every young man, old man, and you know
Speaker 3: middle aged man wants to be sweetness. Every young, middle
Speaker 3: aged or older woman wants to be with sweetness. I said,
Speaker 3: this dude's gotta be funny. He's gotta be sexy, he's
Speaker 3: gotta be scary, he's got to be all these colors.
Speaker 3: Or you don't have a villain. You don't have, you know.
Speaker 3: So he was like, man, all right, I'm sold. Let
Speaker 3: me call you back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, da.
Speaker 6: Cleans up the phone. I'm telling now, I'm fighting. I'm
Speaker 6: gonna call them.
Speaker 3: You know, everybody execs and you know what like about
Speaker 3: you and I'm the writers.
Speaker 7: And I look, man, let me you gotta let me,
Speaker 7: let me out.
Speaker 3: I will listen write me out for because it overlapped perfectly.
Speaker 3: I just would have missed one episode. So that's one week, right,
Speaker 3: we all know that, right, So I said, dude, just
Speaker 3: out forfeit the bread. Just you know, the money, just
Speaker 3: wipe me out, bail me out, keep the money.
Speaker 6: I don't I don't need it.
Speaker 3: Just just just just make some arrangements to where do
Speaker 3: you guys let me go to Chicago for two months
Speaker 3: and do this movie. And they were reluctant. They felt
Speaker 3: my passion and my pain through it, and uh ultimately ended.
Speaker 6: Up doing it. Keep in mind, I didn't know how
Speaker 6: to skate prior to the movie.
Speaker 8: You skating, right, That's exactly what happened, right, I got
Speaker 8: the roll, hung up, the phone was like, yeah, I
Speaker 8: got it, and I was like, oh, So.
Speaker 4: It was like the most actor thing to do. But
Speaker 4: I could juggle. I could do it.
Speaker 6: I can do it all. Don't even worry about it. Right,
Speaker 6: So what happened was I ended up.
Speaker 3: I ended up getting the role, and I flew. I
Speaker 3: had a week to fly out. So I'm thinking to myself,
Speaker 3: I can't I can't skate. So I went and bust
Speaker 3: some skates to see how bad I really was. And
Speaker 3: when I put them on and went to like I
Speaker 3: was living in an apartment in alley, my alleyway, and
Speaker 3: I was like, oh my gosh, oh look, because I
Speaker 3: did dance, that is an easy part, but skating was
Speaker 3: a whole other beast.
Speaker 2: You had a week, you had a week.
Speaker 6: Well, I had a week before I flu out, right.
Speaker 3: But when we got there, though, they put us through
Speaker 3: skate boot camps.
Speaker 6: So I trained.
Speaker 3: I trained from like eight am to six pm from
Speaker 3: every day with like professional you know skaters, and because
Speaker 3: of legal purposes and insurance purposes, we all had doubles, right,
Speaker 3: but I was not into that because my double he
Speaker 3: was great. He was fantastic, but I wanted to show
Speaker 3: people that I did most of my stuff. So I
Speaker 3: was like, I was obsessed. I would go from eight
Speaker 3: am to six pm at the skating rink, take my
Speaker 3: skates home, and I'll be in the hotel skating on
Speaker 3: rug in my hotel. So we talked about bruises and
Speaker 3: swords and I was soaking and eb some salt and
Speaker 3: tire bomb.
Speaker 6: Was my best tire bomb jar. It was a mess.
Speaker 3: So I trained extremely hard. I was probably in the
Speaker 3: best shape of my life. And if I wasn't on skates,
Speaker 3: I was down there in the gym lifting weights. I
Speaker 3: didn't go I didn't really go out with all the
Speaker 3: guys and you know, we're party like you know I was.
Speaker 6: I had a mission.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you were there to prove yourself.
Speaker 3: Yes, I was pissed off. I was This is the
Speaker 3: best way to describe it.
Speaker 6: I was angry.
Speaker 3: I was fed up with constantly fighting that somebody's got
Speaker 3: a bigger name than you. That's somebody, you know, that's
Speaker 3: the thing that we do. And it's like, dude, come on,
Speaker 3: like yo, just give me give me a shot. Watch
Speaker 3: And that was that was that was the whole thing.
Speaker 3: So that's how that was a short version of a
Speaker 3: robounce and how that came to me.
Speaker 7: Man, Man, that's so cool.
Speaker 2: That was a fun movie. That was a really fun movie.
Speaker 1: Then I want to take the pause off of what
Speaker 1: I like about you, because you mentioned that Amanda Bynes
Speaker 1: and Jenny Garth yea like working specifically with Amanda, who
Speaker 1: was such a genius for those types of comedic roles.
Speaker 1: She was always being compared to Lucille Ball.
Speaker 6: And you know, the first year it was like the
Speaker 6: sticky thing.
Speaker 3: You know, they took the whole Nickelodeon thing and kind
Speaker 3: of was trying to fuse it into her new show
Speaker 3: of prime time television. And I don't know behind the
Speaker 3: scenes what happened, but I know that I'm pretty sure
Speaker 3: Jenny Garth and even Amanda had issues with it because
Speaker 3: after the first season, our whole format kind of changed,
Speaker 3: like it was a lot more adult like, it was
Speaker 3: a lot more driven to you know, the relationships of
Speaker 3: you know, Jenny and Amanda and their dating lives, and
Speaker 3: it just took a lot more mature kind of air.
Speaker 3: And I actually appreciated it because Amanda's she's growing up.
Speaker 6: She's no longer the Nickelodeon. She's a you know, a
Speaker 6: young woman.
Speaker 3: So Dan Schneider, who did all of the Nickelodeon stuff
Speaker 3: with her and everything else.
Speaker 6: And still doing it run and running the whole kid thing.
Speaker 3: He I think he ended up. They ended up, you know,
Speaker 3: getting some new producers in there and some new execs
Speaker 3: you know, uh in there and uh Will Calhoun and
Speaker 3: uh just and and they kind of changed the format
Speaker 3: of the show. Amanda at the time was a sweetheart.
Speaker 3: She was just you know, like I said, she was
Speaker 3: just she was cool. She was I want to say,
Speaker 3: not well behind the ears. She knew the industry, but
Speaker 3: I felt like she was more well, yeah, there you go,
Speaker 3: just kind of with life, you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: like kind of just being exposed now to like all right,
Speaker 3: you know, I'm driving, I'm doing this and I got
Speaker 3: you know, I got some money, and I'm a.
Speaker 6: Young lady and what is this all about?
Speaker 3: You know? And uh And we would always tea you know,
Speaker 3: tease and talk about talk. I was talked to her
Speaker 3: and tease her about things. And in my role, here's
Speaker 3: the funny thing about that.
Speaker 6: They won't tell you this, but I'm gonna tell you.
Speaker 6: In my opinion.
Speaker 3: When I was auditioning for What I Like About You,
Speaker 3: I tested with like I felt like the three to
Speaker 3: five white guys, I was.
Speaker 6: The only black dude.
Speaker 3: I don't think when they wrote that they were picturing
Speaker 3: me a black guy being her best friend. They won't
Speaker 3: tell you that, but I based on what I saw
Speaker 3: on the sides and everything else, like y'all, y'all, y'all pictured,
Speaker 3: you know, and y'all picture some white boy, skater kind
Speaker 3: of kid, it's gonna be her best friend.
Speaker 6: I look in the room we're testing and going, okay,
Speaker 6: here's as we do.
Speaker 3: We signed each other up right the compensation like you know,
Speaker 3: you know, and I'm saying, okay, now, I know this
Speaker 3: is gonna probably go, but okay, I'm I'm gonna they
Speaker 3: got Okay, that's what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 6: This's what I'm gonna do. Now, I'm gonna do my
Speaker 6: thing right.
Speaker 3: I'm going I'm gonna be black, but I ain't gonna
Speaker 3: be black scary, Whereas it's like, oh.
Speaker 6: Oh my god, he's just he's just a FuG. You know,
Speaker 6: I have him on the w.
Speaker 2: Thank you for coming, Thank you for coming, sir, Thank
Speaker 2: you for coming. Sir, please please walk out to her.
Speaker 3: So, but I'm gonna but I'm gonna give it a
Speaker 3: little spin, a little spice, a little a little soul
Speaker 3: on there as opposed to what they're gonna do. I
Speaker 3: knew that because these I knew these white guys were
Speaker 3: going to pretty much have the same genre of vibe
Speaker 3: to their thing. What would be different from me is
Speaker 3: being me and just being that cool. You know, hey, listen,
Speaker 3: I'm you know, I'm likable on either side from black folks,
Speaker 3: from white folks that find in between that middle. That's
Speaker 3: what I went for. So I got the role, and
Speaker 3: I think I told I think I told Dan Snyder.
Speaker 3: I was like, man, you ain't mean that to be No,
Speaker 3: you didn't mean this role to be no black kid.
Speaker 3: He's like, don't say that, Yeah.
Speaker 6: Shut up here, and we laughed about it.
Speaker 3: But being her best friend on the show, that that,
Speaker 3: to me was like one of the things that was.
Speaker 6: Very very cool and very different that, you know what
Speaker 6: I mean.
Speaker 3: And there was no romance, romantic kind of you know,
Speaker 3: in your window with that, everybody wanted us to do that.
Speaker 3: You could tell people were writing in like, hey, you
Speaker 3: guys gonna get together and I.
Speaker 6: Was like, no, it shouldn't. That would be expected, you
Speaker 6: know what I mean.
Speaker 3: It's kind of you know, it's kind of it was
Speaker 3: kind of like, uh, with you guys, with with Ben Savage,
Speaker 3: right then you gotta start off.
Speaker 7: His friends, right, Yes, he stands me right.
Speaker 6: Right, So no, they kept it.
Speaker 3: It was just like no, Gary, my character had his
Speaker 3: own dating life, Jay Garth had theirs.
Speaker 6: And we just all came together and the end.
Speaker 3: But then we brought on new people. Nick Xano and it.
Speaker 9: Was just n was on that show, and I was
Speaker 9: just like, I don't want to say that was his
Speaker 9: first first gig, but I think that was like I
Speaker 9: think first major thing for Like I could be wrong, Nick, so.
Speaker 3: Correct me, but yeah, that's one of his big like
Speaker 3: this first big thing, like you know what I mean
Speaker 3: on that scale. And Simon Rex was originally on there.
Speaker 3: That's first that first year when it was kind of sticky,
Speaker 3: and that was tough because I had bonded with because
Speaker 3: it was only four of us.
Speaker 6: It was just me, Jenny, Amanda and Signment. It was
Speaker 6: only four of us.
Speaker 3: And when they were going in a different direction and
Speaker 3: they and he didn't get picked the show.
Speaker 6: I picked up. But he didn't. That was that was
Speaker 6: a little tough, especially after he had just bought a horse.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, by anything season one?
Speaker 6: Never okay, wait right.
Speaker 3: This is what Look this is this is something I
Speaker 3: learned prior to this, had already done fifteen years plus.
Speaker 6: I knew the game. So first first season, you chill.
Speaker 2: Yeah, don't buy anything season one, don't sign the least.
Speaker 4: Season one yep, month to month.
Speaker 6: That's real. So I was like, well he did it.
Speaker 6: I was like, because when we rolled up with it,
Speaker 6: I was that's nice. I was like, you.
Speaker 3: Deal with like you know, you don't know.
Speaker 6: He's like that shouldn't be fun. Be fun, and mind
Speaker 6: I'm going, been there, done that.
Speaker 3: He's still.
Speaker 6: That's right.
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about Boy Meets World
Speaker 1: and Train of Fools. So do you remember getting that role?
Speaker 6: I do? I do?
Speaker 3: It was okay, so check this out. So Michael Jacobs,
Speaker 3: your guys is a big dog, right he he was
Speaker 3: doing the show. And I don't know if you got
Speaker 3: because typically when we work with a producer, we kind
Speaker 3: of know their their whole run, you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: They're all their shows, their new shows are coming up
Speaker 3: with But he was doing a show, a new show
Speaker 3: called Misery Loves Company.
Speaker 7: Yes, it's come up a few times on World.
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, see there we go. Now see now
Speaker 3: Misery Loves Company. H Dennis Boots, Karasu, Chris was a Maloney,
Speaker 3: Chris Uh, and Julius Carrey. It was four dudes, right, and.
Speaker 6: That that's where he met.
Speaker 4: He was on our show multiple times.
Speaker 6: So okay, that's what so so you start to see
Speaker 6: the connection, right. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So Julius Carrey, who passed away rest in Peace was
Speaker 3: ironically I grew up watching him from a huge film
Speaker 3: called The Last Dragon.
Speaker 2: Which is one of the best movies ever made in
Speaker 2: the history of the world. Was one of the greatest
Speaker 2: characters ever ever.
Speaker 6: So check this out. This is great. Okay. So I audition, No,
Speaker 6: I didn't audition. I'm sorry.
Speaker 3: Oh I did audition for Misery lest Company. I got
Speaker 3: the role to play Julius Carey's son.
Speaker 7: Okay, I can see that, and it was.
Speaker 3: It was I did out of thirteen episode I was
Speaker 3: signed on to do eight, so that technically was my
Speaker 3: first regular and I was a regular series regular series regular.
Speaker 6: So I had the job. We shot I don't even
Speaker 6: know how many was shot.
Speaker 3: But the only aired I think three yeah, and let
Speaker 3: me tell you that was my first that was my
Speaker 3: first regular series show. It just didn't take off. And
Speaker 3: Michael Jacobs was real cool. He saw I was bummed
Speaker 3: or whatever the case may be, and it was like,
Speaker 3: all right, everybody parted ways.
Speaker 6: I didn't think anything of it. Got a call.
Speaker 3: I want to say, every guy, the show was my
Speaker 3: first offer as an actor.
Speaker 4: Without having to audition, right.
Speaker 6: I really want I'm thinking back to all the work.
Speaker 3: I really think this is my first time being offered like, hey,
Speaker 3: you don't have to audition, it's yours.
Speaker 6: Michael feeling.
Speaker 3: And he I think he said that. He was like, man,
Speaker 3: I'm so sorry this didn't work out with the show.
Speaker 3: This is political stuff that you know, you know, but
Speaker 3: I want you to go. You know, this has a
Speaker 3: nice li role on a Boy Meets World. But of
Speaker 3: course Boys World, right, it was the hit show at
Speaker 3: the time. I know that that's great, you know, so
Speaker 3: because I said, yeah, you know, I want you to
Speaker 3: do that, and it's like cool, absolutely, So that's how
Speaker 3: I got all your guys showing. What's funny is that
Speaker 3: that that set the subway set little do you guys know,
Speaker 3: we use that same subway set on City Guys. Really,
Speaker 3: there's an episode on City Guys where we're on the
Speaker 3: subway and I kid you not, I'm looking around and
Speaker 3: everybody's like we're rehearsal and just kind of we're.
Speaker 6: You know, looking around and I'm.
Speaker 3: Quiet, and everybody's like, what are you looking at it?
Speaker 3: I was like, this is gonna be I said you.
Speaker 3: I was on Boy Means World on this exact set.
Speaker 3: It's different. Yes, it's got a different little advertisements and
Speaker 3: things on it, but I was like, this is it.
Speaker 3: This has got to be it. I was like and
Speaker 3: just started thinking like, well, actually, studios interchange a lot
Speaker 3: of their you know, you know, rent rent this and
Speaker 3: rent that. So I'm pretty sure if I can go
Speaker 3: back and find the episode of City Guys that you got,
Speaker 3: you guys are backmil and go yeah, that's it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's so funny.
Speaker 2: I just it's so I'm sorry. I I you know,
Speaker 2: me and Tangents. But you mentioned Julius uh and you
Speaker 2: mentioned uh I'm his movie. So The Last Dragon meant
Speaker 2: so much to me growing up that I just wanted
Speaker 2: to be Bruce Leroy and when he came, when he
Speaker 2: was on the show we got to do. We did
Speaker 2: a scene together where Eric is sneak attacking h to
Speaker 2: Panga everywhere she goes, and he and I worked out
Speaker 2: a scene where I said, you know, if I jump
Speaker 2: on your back, He's like, Oh, if you jump on
Speaker 2: my back, I can grab you and flip you over,
Speaker 2: do a full flip over the thing. And I looked
Speaker 2: at him at one point I went, I have to
Speaker 2: tell you how important what we're about to do means
Speaker 2: to me, because I feel like your shown up and
Speaker 2: I'm Bruce Lee Roy and we're in the middle of
Speaker 2: a fight, and he's like, well, that's very nice of
Speaker 2: you to say it. I was like, you have no
Speaker 2: idea how important this movie was, Like this was my
Speaker 2: childhood was this movie. And so the idea that we
Speaker 2: did a martial arts move together on set was like
Speaker 2: I almost cried that day. It was awesome to me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, dude, I didn't even know I was working with
Speaker 3: him until Like, it's just because the hair.
Speaker 6: His hair was low cut and short. That's just so
Speaker 6: different and it was so different.
Speaker 7: So back to Boy Meets World, Train of Fools.
Speaker 1: Do you have any Do you have any specific memories
Speaker 1: of filming that day of being on set, like, do
Speaker 1: you have any cool subway stories?
Speaker 7: Lots of partying extras?
Speaker 6: I remember, yeah, remember that.
Speaker 3: I remember there was a there was a cute French
Speaker 3: made uh uh Arima Carpenter.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was Carpenter.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I remember that. I was eyeballing her. Uh
Speaker 3: let's see.
Speaker 6: I remember I remember thinking, I remember everybody had frush
Speaker 6: on you. I was.
Speaker 3: I remember thinking like, man, yeah.
Speaker 2: That was the famous subway episode too. It was the
Speaker 2: famous subway outfit to wasn't it, Daniel? Yeah, like the
Speaker 2: orange orange.
Speaker 1: The orange yeah, wearing a short skirt like I mean,
Speaker 1: white tights or something.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I remember being nervous maybe the first run at it,
Speaker 3: but once once I got the gist of what was
Speaker 3: going on. Then because I felt this, I felt a
Speaker 3: little pressure because I didn't audition for it, you know something,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, Like when we auditioned for us,
Speaker 3: all right, we got it, they want me. Yeah, but
Speaker 3: it's like yeah to offer and then you do it there,
Speaker 3: maybe we shouldn't have gave it.
Speaker 1: So, you know, it's like we're always second guessing ourselves
Speaker 1: always always.
Speaker 2: So you remember remember that week though, where we were
Speaker 2: getting I mean the direction that week, did we have
Speaker 2: an we didn't have an audience.
Speaker 6: That was shot Yeah, that with the audience and we
Speaker 6: can't do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all the camera angles and there was like a
Speaker 2: hundred shots on one page.
Speaker 5: For Jeff McCracken.
Speaker 7: It was no music, but lots of dancing.
Speaker 6: Lots of dancing.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes, it was pre taped and it was
Speaker 3: oh my god. Yeah, it was a lot of like
Speaker 3: this miming dancing and most uncomfortable.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's Wednesday at eleven a m. Get your party
Speaker 7: on with the music go, you.
Speaker 2: Know, people shaking the subway to make it seem like
Speaker 2: it was. It was moving and yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I also remember thinking it was cool to uh
Speaker 3: work with Ben because I was such a fan of Friends.
Speaker 3: Speaking of which, ironically, Fred directed one episode of What
Speaker 3: I Like About.
Speaker 2: You Okay early in his career.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, man, this is yeah.
Speaker 3: So Fred did an episode and when he I saw
Speaker 3: his name, I was like, what first to do us?
Speaker 6: That's what I'm talking about. I don't even think. I
Speaker 6: don't even think I mentioned to him that I was.
Speaker 6: Maybe I did mentioned it.
Speaker 3: I was on Boyman's World, but yeah, I thought I
Speaker 3: remember being I was like, that was cool, man, because
Speaker 3: I remember seeing Ben as a little kid tag along
Speaker 3: right behind Fred on films, and I thought it was
Speaker 3: pretty cool. But I was a big fan of Fred,
Speaker 3: so I thought that was really cool.
Speaker 1: Well, and years after Boy Meets World ended, you would
Speaker 1: later end up acting with Right or Strong in a
Speaker 1: short film you guys played. You played a cop as
Speaker 1: cold Blan. Did you guys reminisce about boy Meets World
Speaker 1: when you were there?
Speaker 6: What did we did?
Speaker 3: We talk about that?
Speaker 4: We made the connection. We were like, oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: I was like, how could I forget that?
Speaker 3: I feel like I had I feel like I was
Speaker 3: whatever because Right, I know how it is when you're
Speaker 3: on a series and you've done one hundred and plus
Speaker 3: episodes of something and you got so many guest stars
Speaker 3: that have run through. I think I had to remind
Speaker 3: Rider like yeah, man, yeah exactly, because that was.
Speaker 4: The time when I was like blocking boy me the
Speaker 4: world out of my.
Speaker 6: Life when I was a kid.
Speaker 2: We're cops, now, we're cop Please call me Officer Rigby. Please,
Speaker 2: oh my god, please refer to me by my character name,
Speaker 2: if you would.
Speaker 4: You and me we took a picture. I have I
Speaker 4: think it was like one of the right one. Like
Speaker 4: I just joined Twitter, so it's one of the first
Speaker 4: things I tweeted out was a picture of you and me.
Speaker 4: Really yeah, because I was so stoked because I got
Speaker 4: like the kind of holster that like yeah, yeah, but
Speaker 4: like this is awesome. We're so badass. I was like,
Speaker 4: let's take a badass photo. Like, so there's a photo
Speaker 4: of you just looking as tough as we can. I'll
Speaker 4: post it. Was amazing. It's one of my favorite photos, Like, wow,
Speaker 4: we actually look like cops.
Speaker 6: This is great.
Speaker 3: Will me a favorite and send me that, man, because
Speaker 3: I remember that. I remember get about the whole.
Speaker 4: Was like we were so stoked.
Speaker 6: Yeah, hilarious.
Speaker 2: Plus, how do you forget the Subway episode? I mean
Speaker 2: that week of shooting was is just etched in my
Speaker 2: mind almost every minute of it because it was that
Speaker 2: was that was a brutal sitcom. Really rarely do you
Speaker 2: have a brutal week on sitcom, and so when you do,
Speaker 2: it sticks out.
Speaker 4: That was brutal.
Speaker 2: That was a tough week.
Speaker 3: It was I remember it was very very drop because
Speaker 3: I like the your Guys lines. I rememorized them as
Speaker 3: I was sitting Oh my gosh dude, Rebecca Alexa, Rebecca Alexa, Rebecca.
Speaker 2: Rebecca Alexa, Rebecca Alexa, supermodel who wants to date a
Speaker 2: high school girl?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: High school guy, guy girl. It doesn't matter, they're in
Speaker 2: high school. It's all wrong, it's all wrong. For God's says,
Speaker 2: it's all wrong.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have another thing I wanted to talk to
Speaker 1: you about. So, shows like Sister, Sister, Smart Guy, Milisha,
Speaker 1: a Different World, all of which you appeared on, have
Speaker 1: really seen a massive resurgence in nostalgia because of the
Speaker 1: limited representation at the time, when most millennials were growing up,
Speaker 1: there wasn't a ton of black representation.
Speaker 7: What did those shows mean to.
Speaker 1: Black actors and their careers and just as important, what
Speaker 1: does it mean to a black audience.
Speaker 3: Well, well, it means that our stories, when our stories
Speaker 3: want to be heard, they should be told that we
Speaker 3: have stories and don't want to sound cliche that it matters,
Speaker 3: but yeah, our stories, our stories are important as well,
Speaker 3: you know, to be told those shows meant a lot
Speaker 3: to me because especially a Different World along the lines
Speaker 3: of like the Cosby shows, because of the shows that
Speaker 3: I grow watching as well, and to be able to
Speaker 3: actually be on a show like A Different World was
Speaker 3: huge because it's like, these are shows that I watched,
Speaker 3: these are shows that I've never thought in a million
Speaker 3: years that I would be on. So it's important as
Speaker 3: a community. It's important. It's not even just the black folks,
Speaker 3: but it's important that our story is told to other folks,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, everyone's story, you know, everybody
Speaker 3: who cultural backgrounds has stories, and that these stories should
Speaker 3: be recognized, acknowledged.
Speaker 6: And uh and seeing.
Speaker 3: So uh, yeah, it's just you know, back then again
Speaker 3: it was it was like now it's a little different.
Speaker 3: You know, it's a lot a little bit, it's a
Speaker 3: lot better, a lot better. But back then it was like, yeah, man,
Speaker 3: it was Neil and Haystacks here and there. You know,
Speaker 3: you get to you know, you get these shows, and
Speaker 3: but yeah, it's just it's it's it's it's again.
Speaker 6: It's it's better. It's better. It's got a long way
Speaker 6: to go, but it's still it's better.
Speaker 2: It also just showed though, that good TV is good TV.
Speaker 6: There you go, that's what you know.
Speaker 2: A Different World is a great show. The show was
Speaker 2: a great show. Different strokes. These are all just good shows.
Speaker 2: And I think that's one of the things I think
Speaker 2: good is good. You know, they're just good.
Speaker 6: In the end, it's good. It's it's.
Speaker 3: You know, you have again the what's Happening good times
Speaker 3: and you said all in the Family and uh Sanford
Speaker 3: and Son, all these shows at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: taking color out of it. Obviously you have to see
Speaker 3: it for what it is. But if you take color
Speaker 3: out of it at the end, it's just the darn
Speaker 3: good show.
Speaker 6: You know. It is what it is.
Speaker 3: So you can't take that away and try to undermine
Speaker 3: it just because oh it's a cast full of black folks. No,
Speaker 3: does it make you laugh? That's that's all that matters.
Speaker 3: It's entertaining you, that's all that matters. Doesn't matter.
Speaker 6: So yeah, those shows, man.
Speaker 3: Are again that that's in my mind. They all help
Speaker 3: me because I didn't take any at my first acting
Speaker 3: class or workshop I think I was twenty. This is
Speaker 3: like during like City Guys, and I just I went
Speaker 3: to do it just because a friend was running in.
Speaker 6: But prior to that, how did I learn?
Speaker 3: I learned by watching the shows that we watched and
Speaker 3: the shows that we were on, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Just that's how I really got uh to understand the
Speaker 3: comedy of sitcom at least just by watching you know
Speaker 3: what I mean, and mimicking and uh, that's that was
Speaker 3: my that was my acting school.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 1: Well, Wesley, you are very important to an entire generation
Speaker 1: of kids, and we are so honored that you were
Speaker 1: willing to spend your time with us today talking about
Speaker 1: some of your favorite memories. You've been an absolutely fascinating
Speaker 1: guest and it's been so nice to reconnect with you.
Speaker 1: So thank you so much for joining us here today
Speaker 1: and sharing so much of your story with us.
Speaker 3: Ah Man, thank you. That meant a lot. Sometimes, you know,
Speaker 3: we forget, we get in our way and it's like, man,
Speaker 3: you know, you know, it's like all his work just
Speaker 3: kick me to the side. But that means a lot.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. And it was great to hook up
Speaker 3: with you guys and see you guys again. You guys
Speaker 3: look good man.
Speaker 6: We all hanging tough, man.
Speaker 7: Yes we are.
Speaker 3: We are.
Speaker 1: We're hanging in there, and I really hope we get
Speaker 1: an opportunity to see you again.
Speaker 7: We've talked about it a few times.
Speaker 1: We really do need to plan it, but we are
Speaker 1: planning on having a huge Boy meets World Reunion, and
Speaker 1: we are wanting to invite as many people who are
Speaker 1: as willing to come. So if you're willing to come
Speaker 1: to our party, we will see you in person again.
Speaker 6: Please invite me to the.
Speaker 7: Hey nice, Thank you so much. We'll see you again.
Speaker 7: Thank you. Wesley.
Speaker 6: All right, bye bye bye bye bye.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: That was so fun, so good to see him. He's
Speaker 1: endlessly fascinating.
Speaker 2: We have to have this party. I want to see
Speaker 2: these people so badly. I mean, he I want to
Speaker 2: talk to him about just being on the sets he
Speaker 2: was on. I mean, he worked with Sherman Hemsley. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: so television Royalty. I love that he just like fell
Speaker 2: into acting too.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like oh I just learned how to act by
Speaker 4: doing it on every television show that was like casting.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask him, That's what I want to thing.
Speaker 2: I forgot to ask him. I want to ask him
Speaker 2: where he was from. Was he born and raised in
Speaker 2: la I think so must Yeah, Okay, so he's from
Speaker 2: around here. Okay, Yeah, I didn't know. I didn't know
Speaker 2: if he was from around here. He had moved in
Speaker 2: like the like the.
Speaker 7: Rest of us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's from He's from l A and then he
Speaker 1: moved to Germany for a few years as a as
Speaker 1: a youngster. He lived in Germany as a young kid,
Speaker 1: but he didn't talk about that.
Speaker 4: So what story the so cool?
Speaker 2: I love how he remembers Rebecca Alexa too. He had
Speaker 2: to say it so many times, Okay, so if we
Speaker 2: had to say the name so many times Rebecca.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you all for joining us for this episode
Speaker 1: of Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us
Speaker 1: on Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us
Speaker 1: your emails pod Meets World Show at gmail dot com
Speaker 1: and we have March March Pod Meets World Show dot com.
Speaker 7: We'll see y'all next time. We'll send us out.
Speaker 2: We love you all. Pod dismissed. Podmets World is Niheart
Speaker 2: podcast producer and hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfredell and Ryder Strong.
Speaker 2: Executive producers Jensen Carp and Amy Sugarman. Executive in charge
Speaker 2: of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara sudbachsch producer,
Speaker 2: Maddy Moore, engineer and Boy Meets World super fan Easton Allen.
Speaker 2: Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of typhoon and
Speaker 2: you can follow us on Instagram at Podmeats World Show
Speaker 2: or email us at Podmeats Worldshow at gmail dot com.